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Wednesday, September 15, 2004

gettin' back into the craft!

So I haven't done anything too crafty in a while. Mostly because I don't know where my craft supplies are. I did go to the Salvation Army last weekend with ervy. I picked up a couple of wool and wool/alpaca/synth sweaters. So far, I've mainly dismantled the blend sweater. I was excited to buy these because they are light colored, and I've been wanting to dye some yarn with kool-aid for awhile. (Kool-Aid is often used as a dye for any natural fibers. since I dyed the blended fiber yarn, the color is not as intense, and is almost more heathery).



First I had to wash the recycled yarn to clean it. I used Dove shampoo for this. Most shampoos are actually quite gentle on natural fiber yarn.


then I made some kool-aid, a couple TB of H20 per packet of Kool-Aid. Each mixed separately in their own cup. Then I used a baster to squirt the colorful liquid onto my yarn which was already sitting in a microwave safe bowl.


Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes. Repeat until the liquid in the bowl is clear. Then you know that all the dye has soaked into the yarn!


I had to let the yarn cool (it was really hot!). Then I washed the yarn again with shampoo (in a water temperature close to the temperature of the yarn... you aren't supposed to shock it with cold water or it might felt). Then I conditioned and washed it with Dove conditioner (conditioner makes most natural fibers super soft, even the scratchiest wool can benefit from this!).


These are the two finished skeins right now. I'm interested to see the pattern these will have when I knit up a swatch. This was also a good way for me to test which flavors of Kool-Aid I liked best. Safeway is having a sale on kool-aid right now 10/$1.00 (down from 8/$2.00) so I can stock up on the colors I like best.

Thus far, I'm a big fan of Tropical Punch (a nice bright berry red), Lemon-Lime (a very bright green), and Berry Blue (bright light blue)

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